Sheep Irelandhttps://www.sheep.ie
Ireland's Sheep Breeding Database
Fri, 24 May 2019 13:38:20 +0000 en-US
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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.1How to Order Genotypes via Genomic Ordering Screenhttps://www.sheep.ie/?p=4605
Fri, 24 May 2019 13:34:36 +0000https://www.sheep.ie/?p=4605Flocks can now order genotypes via their Genomic ordering screen in order to parentage verify their lambs. Once genotypes have been ordered tissue sample tags should arrive in the post 3-5 working days later. The cost of each genotype has been subsidised from €24.50 to €10.00 for the first 1000 samples ordered by LambPlus flocks since it was launched on May 1st. Since the 1st of May, 150 genotypes plus have been ordered showing a strong demand by breeders. We would encourage anyone who would like to have their ram lambs parentage verified at this subsidised rate prior to sales to do so ASAP.

Sheep Ireland would also strongly recommend that any stock rams on the farm that are not currently genotyped be done so immediately as this will help to correct any potential parentage errors found in your flock in future. You can check if your stock ram is genotyped or not though your Sheep Ireland account and going to Genomic Ordering and checking the genotyping status of the animal there.

What are the Benefits of Scanning?

Ultrasound scanning information is used as a very good predictor of carcass confirmation and fat levels in the absence of carcass data. The more Muscle and Fat depth information we collect from your flock and/or breed, the higher the accuracy of the evaluation for your sheep will be, therefore giving you and your potential customers more confidence in their purchasing decision.

Flocks must Muscle and Fat scan their lambs to enter the LambPlus Sale (See more details on the sale attached)

If your lambs are scanned between 121 and 180 days of age this will also count as your third lamb weight (not including birth weight). Lambs will also be scored for lameness, dagginess and condition score on the day, all of which will contribute to the health index which now forms part of both the Terminal and Replacement Indexes.

Scanning Charges

The scanning charges used last year will remain in place for the 2019 season. Price is as follows:

Call out charge – €100 (will include the scanning, weighing and scoring of 20 lambs)

Next 60 lambs scanned – charged €2.50 per lamb scanned

Greater than 80 lambs scanned – charged €0.50 per lamb

All lambs will be weighed and scored at no extra cost to the breeder

Note – VAT is included in these prices

Payment for this scanning service will need to be made on the day of scanning by all breeders. There can be no exceptions to this rule.

Criteria/Checklist

In order to have your lambs scanned a minimum criteria must be fulfilled:

All lambs must be presented and tagged with the official NSIS tag prior to the day of scanning (No NSIS = No Scanning)

Breeders must have an accurate working weight scales to weigh their lambs on the day

All (Male and Female) lambs must be presented for scanning

Where possible a minimum of 15 to 20 progeny per sire used should be scanned in order to deliver reliable estimates of genetic merit

The grouping of lambs into their different management groups is of critical importance. Lambs fed/managed under differing systems must be grouped accordingly as assessing these lambs performance on the same level is completely false and only serves to bias and distort the €uroStar evaluation.

In order to achieve full DQI marks for scanning flocks will be required to scan 50% of their lambs with the remaining lambs all being weighed

Ideally the scanning should take place undercover, preferably in a building without direct sunlight so the scans can be easily seen and to comply with electrical safety regulations.

Mains power is necessary at the scanning point.

A large table (or six small bales) is required for the scanning equipment and should be protected in some way from the lambs being scanned.

Handling facilities should be adequate to ensure that lambs are presented at the scanning point.

A scanning crate (handling crate) will be provided by the scanning technician.

It is necessary to apply liquid paraffin to the scanning site. (If lambs are to be sheared, the scanning should be done first). A minimum amount of paraffin is used but the amount needed is affected by temperature, wool absorption, and site conditions. Subsequent marks may be seen on animals if the site attracts soil particles or resists sheep dips used.

Have your lambing book to hand in case there are any queries when processing the scanning data

Once Sheep Ireland has received notice that you wish to scan we will make contact with you over the following weeks to arrange a suitable time. The majority of lambs should be over 40kg at the time of scanning and under 180 days of age.

]]>CPT 40 Day Weightshttps://www.sheep.ie/?p=4592
Fri, 24 May 2019 09:40:49 +0000https://www.sheep.ie/?p=4592Last week Sheep Ireland visited some of the later lambing CPT flocks to capture some 40 day weights. While visiting Brian Nicholson’s farm in County Kilkenny, weights as well as body condition scores, dag scores and any incidences of lameness and mastitis was recorded via the Sheep Ireland LambPlus App. To find out what weight bracket you are in this week click here.

Lambs born the last week of March are now entering their final days within the 40 day weights bracket, breeders need to record these weights before next Wednesday 29th May.Late January and early February born lambs are now in the wean weight bracket (66-120 days old) and breeders will need to get these uploaded before the end of May/beginning of the first week of June.

The video below was captured last week while carrying out 40 days weights on a CPT flock. Ewes were also weighed and inspected on the day.

]]>Flock Visits – Where we are todayhttps://www.sheep.ie/?p=4576
Tue, 07 May 2019 09:05:42 +0000https://www.sheep.ie/?p=4576David Coen outlined where Sheep Ireland currently stand concerning LambPlus flock visits at the Sheep Ireland Industry Meeting held on Monday 29th April 2019 in Tullamore Court Hotel, County Offaly. View David’s presentation can be found here.

It is David’s mission to visit up to 700 flocks over a 24 month time period. In this two years, David will be visiting breeders up as far as Donegal and down as far as Cork. In his presentation he outlined what phenotype’s he is expected to take whilst visiting breeders, the value of this new flock visit service to breeders as well as what Sheep Ireland have been finding while out on flock visits.

]]>New Research in Sheep Breedinghttps://www.sheep.ie/?p=4562
Fri, 03 May 2019 11:33:52 +0000https://www.sheep.ie/?p=4562Fiona McGovern outlined some of the research to be carried out over the next 2-3 years in relation to Sheep breeding at the Sheep Ireland Industry Meeting held on Monday 29th April 2019 in Tullamore Court Hotel, County Offaly. The synopsis of Fiona’s presentation on the day are outlined below. View Fiona’s full presentation from the day here.

Before any research is undertaken into a new trait it is important that if fulfills some important criteria. The trait much be:

Socially or economically important

Exhibits genetic variation (heritable)

Be capable of measurable it on a large scale

In the presentation we can see some of the areas when research that will be undertaken over the next number of years, with a strong emphasis on traits that impact on GHG emissions and ewe efficiency. This is to ensure that the Irish sheep industry is ready to face any new challenges that may come from future legislation in this area.

GreenBreed

This project covers Dairy, Beef and Sheep. Its aim is to develop, validate and deploy the necessary tools and optimal strategies to achieve sustainable and quantifiable genetic gain through environmental and economic efficiency.

Two of the main elements of the project is development and validation of a protocol for feed intake and methane emissions from sheep. This project will be using some of the latest advancements in sciences, with the hope that results of this work can then be incorporated into the national breeding programme once the research is complete.

]]>Review of a very positive Sheep Ireland industry meetinghttps://www.sheep.ie/?p=4476
Fri, 03 May 2019 11:30:40 +0000https://www.sheep.ie/?p=4476On Monday (29th April), Sheep Ireland held their latest sheep industry meeting. A crowd of 80 stakeholders from across the industry were in attendance, and lots of great discussion from the floor. The session was chaired by Donagh Berry (Teagasc).

Sean Coughlan, CEO of Sheep Ireland opened the meeting, reinforcing some of the key messages for the industry, that we need to keep improving the indexs for the benefit of commercial farmers, we need to attract young people to the industry by being cutting edge, and that there are lots of opportunities appearing on the horizon for the sheep industry.

There were 8 presentations on the day, each with a very positive message to tell, and a summary of each can be found below.

OviGen (Aine O’Brien, Teagasc) – The OviGen genomics research project will soon finish its 5-year term. It has delivered DNA parentage verification for ram breeders through Sheep Ireland, a new health index (using dag and lameness information), and work which will lead to more accurate breed composition assignment. View Aine’s full presentation here and a summary of her presentation here.

DNA parentage & scrapie (Noirin McHugh, Teagasc) – The negative financial impact that incorrect parentage can have on our sheep breed improvement programme is huge. Being able to correct this parentage through genotyping is a major advancement for the Irish sheep industry. Scrapie genotypes can now be predicted by the genotyping technology available to Irish ram breeders through Sheep Ireland. Getting these scrapie genotype results recognised by the Department of Agriculture for export purposes will be the next aim. To view Noirin’s presentation click here and a summary of her presentation here.

New genotyping service for Irish sheep farmers (Ciara Long, Sheep Ireland) – A new process for rapid turnaround of sheep genotypes has been developed by Sheep Ireland. Farmers/breeders can avail of this service through state of the art web screens via the Sheep Ireland website. The cost of genotyping will continue to be subsidised for LambPlus (performance recording) flocks by Sheep Ireland to €10 (€24.50 for non-LambPlus flocks). The continued subsidisation of this genotyping will be reassessed regularly pending uptake. View Ciara’s presentation here and a summary of her presentation here.

New exciting research (Fiona McGovern, Teagasc) – New Zealand genetics from the INZAC flock in Teagasc Athenry are now being trialed on commercial sheep farms. Another project looking at feed intake and methane emissions in sheep was also presented by Fiona. Greenbred will use the latest technology to capture this hard measure data, hopefully laying the foundations for future work in this area and perhaps the development of a genetic indexes for feed intake and methane for Irish sheep farmers in the future.View Fiona’s presentation hereand a summery of her presentation here.

Flock visits (David Coen, Sheep Ireland) – Sheep Ireland are now visiting all flocks involved in performance recording. These visits will center around data collection and the education of performance recording breeders on all aspects of the scheme. These visits will also add to the credibility of the Sheep Ireland genetic improvement programme. View David’s presentation here.

Genetic Evaluation Updates (Thierry Pabiou, Sheep Ireland) – The Sheep Ireland indexes are receiving a number of major improvements for the 2019 season. These are as follows – inclusion of lamb carcase data for the first time, a move from within-breed evaluations to across-breed for the first time, and updating the heritability’s used in the evaluation based on Irish data. All of these improvements will lead to more accurate genetic evaluations and a faster rate of genetic progress for the Irish sheep industry. View Thierry’s presentation here and a summary of his presentation here.

Impact of Programme Improvements (Kevin McDermott, Sheep Ireland) – The new improvements will cause some movements in the indexes of rams. For breeders affected by this, it is unfortunate, but the benefit to the wider sheep industry will be significant. View Kevin’s presentation hereand a summary of his presentation here.

]]>Genotyping Handling, Timeline & Costhttps://www.sheep.ie/?p=4557
Fri, 03 May 2019 11:23:50 +0000https://www.sheep.ie/?p=4557Sheep Ireland’s Ciara Long presented the Ovidata genotyping process at the Sheep Ireland Industry Meeting held on Monday 29th April 2019 in Tullamore Court Hotel, County Offaly. The synopsis of Ciara’s presentation on the day are outlined below. View Ciara’s full presentation for the day here.

Weatherby’s Ireland have been confirmed as the new lab that will provide genotyping services to Sheep Ireland going forward. This will mean the turnaround time on receiving results will be greatly improved due to samples being genotyped in Ireland and results automatically flowing into the Sheep Ireland database.

Depending on how quickly the breeder returns the tissue samples there is the potential to have results within a 4-week period (from when Sheep Ireland receive the sample).

The Steps are as follows:

Farmers login to their Sheep Ireland account and select the animals they wish to genotype (animals must have an NSIS recorded). This facility is open to LambPlus and non-LambPlus breeders. So even if you are only a member of a breed society you can avail of this facility.

Once the sample has been ordered the breeder should receive the DNA tags within 3-5 working days from the tag provider. The breeder takes the tissue sample and the tag should remain in the ear (if any questions around parentage results arise this tag will rule out a sampling error by the farmer). Breeders return the samples using a pre-addressed envelope.

Sheep Ireland receive the DNA samples and log them on the database, samples will be sent to the lab weekly.

Once the lab receives the samples they will begin the genotyping process the following week.

Once the genotyping process has taken place, the lab issues a result file which is sent to the Sheep Ireland database. At this point the database automatically applies quality control checks, parentage verification is run on all genotypes and predictions are applied.

Results are thoroughly analysed and tested before the update the breeder’s results profile. If parentage errors exist, breeder’s as well as societies will be notified, with incorrect parentage being removed/updated. Breeder’s can check their results via their Genomic Results Screen on sheep.ie

Genotyping Plans

Subsidised genotyping now applies to all LambPlus flocks at €10 per animal (this will be re-assessed after the first 1000 genotypes). This facility is open to all breeds. The full genotyping cost applies to non-LambPlus flocks and is €24.50 per animal.

DNA Collection & Handling

To accurately carry out parentage tests and scrapie analysis the call rates of the extracted DNA samples must be above 0.90 and 0.95 respectively. If an animal is below these thresholds the breeder will need to re sample the animal (Free of charge). It is therefore extremely important how we handle and store DNA samples as this will have an impact on the quality of the sample at testing.

DNA collection

Follow the DNA collection guide enclosed with you DNA tags

Ensure the sheep is properly restrained

Only take samples from clean & dry ears

Disinfect the ear after the sample is taken

Leave the tag in the ear

Handling DNA Samples

Refrigerate samples ASAP (avoid freeze thawing of samples)

Send samples at the start-mid week to avoid samples being stuck in the post over the weekend

]]>Parentage being changed & Scrapie genotyping availablehttps://www.sheep.ie/?p=4551
Fri, 03 May 2019 11:09:56 +0000https://www.sheep.ie/?p=4551Noirin McHugh presented an update on parentage predictions and scrapie at the Sheep Ireland Industry Meeting held on Monday 29th April 2019 in Tullamore Court Hotel, County Offaly. The synopsis of Noirin’s presentation on the day are outlined below. View Noirins’s full presentation from the day here.

Genetic indexes rely on accurate parentage in order to produce the most accurate predictions, therefor it is highly important from a breed improvement point of view that parentage is accurate. It is also important for flockbooks have accurate parentage for the breed flockbook integrity.

The breakdown of parentage errors

There is now almost 22,000 animals genotyped in the Sheep Ireland database (Commercial and Pedigree), of which half had a parent genotyped also. The current sire error rate of all the genotyped animals is 8.3% and 5.6% for dams. These figures would be expected, as there are lots of occasions where genuine mistakes can be made from

Recording mating groups (Which ram bred with which ewe)

Multiple ewes lambing in a group pen and lambs getting mixed up

Lambs being fostered and not recorded

Recording the wrong tag number at lambing time

Admin error when recording the data onto the database

The good news is that thanks to some new work done by Sheep Ireland, when an incorrect parent has been identified, in 40% of cases the correct parent can be identified via screening the other genotypes in the database. The parentage will then be updated to reflect this, however if a new parent can’t be identified then this will mean the animal shall have it incorrect parentage removed, as wrong information is worse than no information.

The Impact of Parentage errors

Some of the animals that have their parentage changed as a result of the parentage correction process could drop/gain as much as €4.96/€7.98 on the Replacement index, leading to a significant change in their EuroStar rating. These changes will not only effect the animals with a direct sire/dam error, but it could have a knock on affect throughout the bloodline.

Parentage errors have the largest effect on animals with no or small numbers of progeny. This is because the more progeny an animal has, the less it relies on its ancestry for the formulation of it stars, and the more it relies on its own progeny’s performance.

Scrapie genotyping now available

Both Teagasc and Sheep Ireland have been working for some time now to validate the test for scrapie using this new genotyping technology. We have encountered some difficulties in the past, but these have now been overcome. Any sample ordered from today forward will also receive a scrapie status. This scrapie status is not DAFM approved, but the next step is to work with DAFM to try and make this happen.

]]>The Impact of the programme improvementshttps://www.sheep.ie/?p=4541
Fri, 03 May 2019 10:49:55 +0000https://www.sheep.ie/?p=4541At the Sheep Ireland Industry Meeting held in Tullamore on Monday (April 29th), Sheep Ireland’s Kevin McDermott explained the Impact that these Improvements to the Genetic Evaluation would have. View the full presentation here.

At the beginning he stated

“So far today we have heard about some fantastic research and development work that has been carried out over the past year, from the inclusion of carcass data in the evaluation, to parentage corrections, updates to the heritability’s and the introduction of an across breed evaluation and more. The inevitability of all these improvements however is that some animals we be reranked”.

EuroStar Movements

The number of stock rams that drop significantly (more than 2 Stars) is only 5.1% and 3.6% on the Terminal and Replacement Index respectfully. Sheep Ireland is aware that this is off little comfort to the owner of these rams that fell and we do not take significant moves in the Stars lightly, as we are aware of the financial implications this can have for a pedigree breeder. We are also aware that if we now have new information to indicate that a bloodline is less profitable than expected, we must update the stars so that commercial farmers can avoid the negative financial effects of purchasing less profitable genetics. He also pointed out that 5.1% and 4.7% of stock rams on the Terminal and Replacement Index rose by more than 2 Stars, so their are as many rams gaining as there are losing.

How flocks can help protect their flocks from movements

The principles that Sheep Ireland have specified in the past to help flocks avoid being negatively implicated by movements in EuroStars were reiterated. Sourcing Rams from flocks with high accuracies and a high DQI score, recording as much data as possible on their own flocks, and using a team of rams. Almost 75% of LambPlus flocks used a team of rams in 2018, these flocks will on average see less movements in their over flocks’ evaluations, whereas the 25% of flocks that did not use a team of rams are leaving these selves more open. We recognise that it can be difficult for some flocks to use a team of rams due to their small size, but he would highly recommend that flocks share a ram with another flock that they work closely with or use AI on a proportion of their flock.

The other new way to reduce star movements is to adopt parentage verification practices in the flock, especially with stock rams entering the flock to ensure the rams entering the flock have the most accurate evaluations possible before using them on your flock.

Has the Evaluation Improved?

On a technical level the evaluation has improved. Genetic evaluations are judged based on their ability to predict the future performance of animals and this is done generating a regression slope, the closer this slop is to 1, the better. The previous evaluation had a slope of 0.41, and the new evaluation has a slope of 0.66, which is a significant improvement on the Technical side. However what breeders and farmers are most interested in is what this means for some of the main traits. The good news is that the differences between 1 Star and 5 Star animals is increasing. For example, the old evaluation model could predict a difference of -7.42kg in ewe mature weight, while the new evaluation can predict up to -9.52kg, which is an increased difference of -2.10kg.

How will these results be presented?

The good news is that the format of the catalogue remains unchanged, however some of the data is now even more informative. The figures highlighted in the red boxes will now be comparable across breeds, where as previously this was not the case. This will allow farmers to select the most genetically elite rams on an index/trait, regardless of breed if they so wish.

The star ratings and rankings will remain within breed, allowing breeders and farmers to identify where they are ranked within the breed.

]]>OviGen – The Outcomeshttps://www.sheep.ie/?p=4484
Thu, 02 May 2019 15:04:37 +0000https://www.sheep.ie/?p=4484Dr Aine O’Brien presented the outcomes of the OviGen project at the Sheep Ireland Industry Meeting held on Monday 29th April 2019 in Tullamore Court Hotel, County Offaly. To view Aine’s full presentation click here.

The objective of the OviGen research project launched in December 2014, was to assess the role that genomic technologies can play in the Irish sheep industry. In combination with core objective many other areas were explored. The main outcomes delivered from the project as it comes to a close this summer are as follows;

Genotyping Services

Thanks to the OviGen, genotyping services are now available to Irish ram breeders via Sheep Ireland. This is a major advancement for the industry and for Irish sheep farmers. Parentage verification is now possible. Where parentage is identified as being incorrect, if the genotype of the correct parent is available, it is possible to identify this correction and apply it to the Sheep Ireland database.

Health Index Development

On foot of the collection of a huge amount of health data throughout OviGen a health index has been developed (including Dag and Lameness data) and is now included in the Sheep Ireland Replacement and Terminal Index. Mastitis data was also collected throughout OviGen and hopefully this trait can be included in the health index at some point in the future. Currently it is not possible to include this trait due to insufficient data.

Calculating breed composition

OviGen is currently working on being able to calculate the exact breed composition of all genotyped sheep. This will be particularly useful in the event of a parentage error being identified and not being in a position to identify the correct parent (due to the absence of the correct parent’s genotype). In this situation we will be in a position to verify if an animal is indeed a purebred (in the case of pedigree sheep). This function would also be extremely useful in commercial flocks where breeds are crossed regularly. Calculating the exact breed composition will allow for more informed breeding decisions.